In his opinion piece Simon Busuttil (March 16) once again declared that our statement criticising the position of the European People’s Party (EPP) on burden sharing, solidarity and EU action in Libya was “utterly ridiculous” and that a good reading of the text would show that all these issues are covered.

This is simply not the case. The difference between the texts proposed by the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) political group, of which the Labour MEPs are all members, and the resolution by the EPP group, was enormous.

Dr Busuttil’s assertion rests on paragraph 15 of the compromise resolution which calls on the European Commission to ensure that guarantees are in place so that the EU can respond appropriately in the event of any mass migratory movement, in accordance with article 80 of the EU Treaty. Neither I nor my colleagues in the S&D group believed that a reference to article 80 of the EU Treaty was good enough to safeguard Malta’s interests.

What does Malta want? Surely we need more than just a broad-brush approach and the vague words of article 80. Malta needs actions such as a common EU asylum system, a detailed burden-sharing action plan to resettle North African refugees and a special solidarity fund, all of which were explicitly demanded by the S&D group in their own resolution. These proposals were flatly refused inclusion by the EPP. Ask Ana Gomes who was negotiating the compromise text on our behalf.

Dr Busuttil knows this to be the case but fails to admit it.

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